Pecan Pies and Homicides (5 page)

“To make sure that no one could get the magic flower in Lake Havenwood. Think about it. The Gaynors' powers have always been connected to water. What if they're the nymphs bound to guard the Flower of Life?”

Suzy made an unintelligible noise. “Neither Opal nor Loralyn strike me as being very nymph-like. Nymphs are willowy and ethereal—more like Eira. They love nature and are playful and capricious. Opal and Loralyn are slim and gorgeous, yes, but they're bossy, ambitious, and direct.”

“Have you ever met a nymph?”

“No. I'm just regurgitating facts,” Suzy said. “But I'll swing by to pick up
Lake Lore of the Americas
during my lunch break. I want to take a look at the section where the pages were removed. Maybe Loralyn knows what happened to them.”

Ella Mae snorted. “If she does, you're my only hope of finding out. She's not likely to lift a finger if it means helping me.”

“I'll give it my best shot,” Suzy promised. “Speaking of lunch, what are you serving today?”

“A huge helping of happiness, warmth, and satisfaction,” Ella Mae said. “If I'm going to pack my café, reel in a bunch of catering jobs, and hire some of the folks from the Tennessee grove, then I need to turn my business around. Fast.”

“Well, I'll be there at high noon. There's no way I'm going to pass up one of your enchanted pies.” After a moment's hesitation, she added, “Unless it's going to give me the urge to take my clothes off. It is way too cold to go streaking through the town square.”

Ella Mae laughed. “Don't worry; I won't be injecting any feelings of lust into my pies.” At the mention of lust, her merriment vanished. “My dates with Hugh haven't exactly been hot and heavy.”

“Do you want them to be?”

“You have no idea how much,” Ella Mae said, turning on lights in the kitchen and dining room. She paused for a moment to consider how long she'd waited to be with Hugh Dylan. She had fallen in love with him in junior high, but he'd been too captivated by Loralyn to notice her. Following her college graduation, Ella Mae had married Sloane Kitteridge and moved to Manhattan. Seven years later, after leaving her cheating husband and returning to Havenwood, she soon realized that her feelings for Hugh were unchanged. She was just as hopelessly in love him as she'd been as a gawky teenager. And now Hugh was courting her in an old-fashioned and rather chaste manner. Ella Mae would have preferred things to be a little less chaste. “On one hand,” she continued to answer Suzy's question, “it's been nice to have gotten to know each other all over again. I didn't think it was possible to love him more than before, but I do.”

“And on the other hand?”

Ella Mae touched the framed four-leaf clover hanging over the cash register. “Loving him shouldn't make me miserable, but how do I do this, Suzy? How can I be with Hugh, knowing I'll always keep secrets from him, knowing I'll have to lie to him again and again, knowing I can never show him who I really am?”

“You get used to it,” Suzy said gently. “Secrets are the only way to protect those who aren't like us. Do you know what happens to people who suddenly start believing in magic? They end up in psych wards.”

“I understand that, and I know keeping these kinds of secrets have worked for other couples, like Aunt Verena and Uncle Buddy, but what if things get really serious with Hugh? What if we get married? He'll have no idea what he's gotten himself into and I won't be able to tell him.”

Suzy hesitated. “You can solve that riddle after you get your hands on a Flower of Life. You don't need to stress about that now.”

Ella Mae smiled. “One miracle at a time, right? I should get started on today's culinary miracles. See you at noon.”

By the time Reba arrived, Ella Mae had a dozen breakfast pies in the oven and had begun to mix graham crackers and butter to make crusts for some of the dessert pies.

“No country music this mornin'?” Reba asked as she slipped her apron over her head. Like Ella Mae's, it was peach and had been embroidered with a rolling pin and the phrase, “That's How I Roll.”

“Nope, this kind of magic requires Elvis. We're going to fill every chair today,” Ella Mae said.

Reba grinned. “I like the sound of that. What are today's specials?”

“A pork and apple pie with a cheddar cheese crust, a winter vegetable tart, and a hearty beef and ale pie. For dessert, we have warm chocolate tarts, caramelized pear and hazelnut turnovers, apple and pomegranate cobbler, and dulce de leche pie. Everything will make our customers feel cozy and cheerful.”

“Talk of yesterday's impromptu concert is all over town, so I expect us to be real busy. I hope you're plannin' on givin' a few of these pies that extra sparkle.”

Ella Mae nodded. “Not just a few, Reba. All of them.”

Reba's eyes went wide. “Then I'd better get the coffee brewin'. You and I had better drink a whole pot before I hang the open sign.”

• • •

Ella Mae hadn't felt so good in months. There hadn't been an empty seat in the dining room for either the breakfast or lunch services. All day long, the murmur of conversation and merry laughter had drifted around The Charmed Pie Shoppe, mingling with the aroma of buttery dough, melted cheese, warm chocolate, and baking fruit. By the time Ella Mae's aunts arrived, Reba's apron pocket was stuffed with cash.

“Best tips I've had in ages!” she declared, carrying the last of the dirty dishes into the kitchen.

Verena was close on her heels. “What did you put in those pies, Ella Mae?”

“Memories. The snowflake mittens Reba knit for me, a handful of plump marshmallows bobbing in a cup of hot chocolate, the feeling of sinking into a steaming tub of water at the end of a long day, winding a soft scarf around my neck, holding my hands in front of a roaring fire. Warm, happy thoughts.”

Reba waved a licorice twist at Ella Mae. “Well, your memories sure did the trick. We filled a dozen takeout orders too. Another few weeks like this and you'll need another waitress and a delivery driver. And then there's the winter carnival.”

Sissy performed a graceful twirl as she entered the kitchen. “It is such a
delight
to see your gifts in action, my talented niece. People are walking down the street, arm in arm, smiling as if they can't even feel the cold.”

Dee hooked her thumbs under the straps of her overalls. “Since we're all here, I wanted to tell you that we've decided to open our homes to those in need of shelter, but most will end up at Partridge Hill.” She studied Ella Mae. “How will you organize living arrangements and job placement for these people while running your pie shop?”

“You need a manager!” Verena announced. “Someone from their grove who's well liked and can act as a liaison between our two communities.”

Ella Mae nodded. “I'll ask Eira. She has a friend who works at the local coffee shop. This woman, Jenny Upton, probably knows everyone.”

“Eira's the dancer, right? I cannot
wait
to meet her.” Sissy folded her hands over her heart. “Suzy told me all about her before she left clutching some book to her chest for dear life.”

After placing a beef and ale pie and three pear and hazelnut turnovers in a picnic basket, Ella Mae checked her watch. “It's time. Dee, can we all pile in your car?”

“Sure. I'm assuming you'd like to get Charleston Chew from Canine to Five first?”

Reba answered for Ella Mae. “Do you know how many squirrels that dog can chase up there on the mountain? Of course we're takin' him.”

“Better bring your man a treat too!” Verena advised.

“I'm way ahead of you.” Ella Mae pointed to the white bakery box on the counter. “I made that one especially for Hugh.”

Verena threw her hands into the air. “I do not want to know what memories went into that pie. To me, you'll always be a little girl with pigtails. Let's move it, ladies!”

• • •

When Ella Mae entered Canine to Five, she was met by the usual cacophony of barks, yips, bays, and a growl or two. The woman behind the front desk smiled, gave Ella Mae a detailed report of Chewy's activities for the day, and went off to collect him.

Ella Mae headed for Hugh's office and found her boyfriend standing in the threshold with his back to the hall, talking on the phone. As owner of Canine to Five and one of Havenwood's volunteer firefighters, Hugh was as busy as she was. Ella Mae tried to bring him homemade food whenever she could. Placing the pie on the floor, she studied her handsome man for a moment and then stepped up behind him and slid her arms around his waist.

He faltered midsentence and then covered her left hand with his. “Hey, Dan, something's come up. Can I call you in the morning?”

Hugh tossed the phone onto the desk and turned around. “Hello, beautiful.” He smiled and traced the line of her jaw with his fingertip. “I missed you last night. I can't remember what I used to do on Friday nights before you came along. How was the party?”

“It was okay. Loralyn and I managed not to pull each other's hair out and Suzy enjoyed herself, which is all that matters.”

“It was nice of you to go so Suzy didn't have to be there by herself,” Hugh said. “You're a good friend.”

Ella Mae wanted to confess that it was Suzy who deserved his praise, but she couldn't tell him about the book, what happened to her mother, or the Flower of Life. Instead, she kept another secret from him. Added another lie to a growing list of lies. “I would have liked to have danced with you,” she said, gazing into his brilliant blue eyes. “Tonight, I'm all yours.”

He kissed her lightly on the lips. “I like the sound of that.”

Ella Mae pulled away before his kiss became more demanding. She'd been avoiding his embrace too much lately, but whenever their lips met for any length of time, she felt a burning sensation. It wasn't just the heat of desire she felt, but an actual, physical pain. It always started slowly, like a spark igniting against her skin, but the more she and Hugh kissed, the more the fiery feeling intensified. At first, Ella Mae had assumed that the bizarre reaction had something to do with magic, but Hugh hadn't come to the grove for the harvest festival, and that meant that he was human.

Or something else
, Ella Mae silently thought.
If there are nymphs and assassins called Shadow Children in the world, who knows what other creatures live among us?

“I brought you a pie.” Ella Mae took the box off the floor and put it on Hugh's desk.

He frowned. “That's not fair. You won't let me give you a discount for Chewy's care and yet you're constantly bringing me food.”

“This is dessert,” Ella Mae said, grabbing his hand. “You can make me dinner.”

Hugh grinned. “Deal. Meet me here at seven and bring a swimsuit.”

Ella Mae wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly. “What?”

He ran his thumb over the back of her hand. “Trust me, I've been thinking about this for a long time. A hundred times a day. I want to be with you, Ella Mae. In every way. Is that all right? Are you ready?”

She knew exactly what he was saying. Her throat turned dry and her heart began hammering. “Yes,” she whispered and thought back to the only time they'd ever come close to making love. It had been late November and they'd been caught in a thunderstorm running from a restaurant to Hugh's truck. Once inside, they started kissing. Ella Mae had peeled off Hugh's soaked shirt and he'd unbuttoned her drenched blouse. For some reason, the water had acted as a buffer and there'd been no pain when they kissed.

“Are you thinking of that rainy night?” Hugh asked now, pulling her from the memory. “Because I've thought of little else since then. I don't know why we react to each other the way we do, but there has to be a way to deal with it. Let me show you what I have in mind.”

“Yes,” she said again. “Yes.”

And then they heard the scrabble of Chewy's paws on the tile floor, and together they moved into the hall.

“Hey, boy!” Ella Mae bent down to greet her terrier. Taking Chewy's leash from Hugh's assistant, she gave Hugh a smile filled with promise and then left.

“What took so long?” Reba demanded after Ella Mae and Chewy got into the car.

Sissy giggled like a schoolgirl. “Look at her face! What do you
think
took so long?” She sighed theatrically. “Oh, to be young and beautiful and in love.”

Reba and Ella Mae's aunts reminisced about the men they'd known in their youth all the way to Havenwood Mountain Park. As Dee's car climbed higher and higher into the blue green hills, the sky began to darken, turning a smoky pewter.

“This is what I hate most about winter,” Dee said. “How early night comes. It's not even five and I can see the moon already.”

“And it's so cold,” Ella Mae said. “I don't remember it being this cold. Look at the lake. It's covered with a shimmer of ice.”

Below them, Lake Havenwood sparkled like a mirror. The town seemed frozen too. The shops and houses huddled together around its shore like children gathered around a campfire.

Dee pulled the car into the lot near the entrance to the park's hiking trails. “Where's your friend?” she asked Ella Mae.

“Eira's bully of a husband probably refused to let her meet me.”

Sissy put her arms around Chewy, who gave her a lick on the cheek. “Poor woman. From what you told us, it sounded like she was keen on seeking sanctuary in our grove.”

“We'd best get goin',” Reba said. “We've got lots to tell Adelaide.”

At the mention of her mother's name, Ella Mae was suddenly impatient to unburden herself, to share her worries and cares in the tranquility of the glade where her mother stood, graceful and alone.

She hurried up the winding path, turning her face away from the sharp, probing wind. Because she had a head start on Reba and her aunts, Ella Mae was by herself when she rounded the last bend in the trail. To the right, a sea of treetops stretched on and on. Straight ahead was the rock wall that signaled the path's end for anyone who wasn't magical. But something else was there at the base of the boulder.